Carry Forward the Hopes to the Next Year

The year 2018 appears to have passed very soon as nothing significant has happened for the cable and broadcast industry throughout the year. All hopes for a better future at the beginning of the year have belied and industry is in a state of gloom. TRAI’s Tariff Order and regulations are still stuck in the court, carrying forward the hopes of a regulated industry to the next year. Economic situation in the country is topsy turvy and hopes for stable economy are again being carried forward to 2019.

TRAI held an interactive session with the stakeholders last month to discuss the new regulatory framework for addressable services post the Supreme Court order upholding TRAI’s tariff order and regulations. The event was very well attended and many questions were thrown at the TRAI regarding pricing of pay TV channels, particularly pointing out the absence of 15% cap on the discount given by broadcasters on the MRP of channels placed in a bouquet.

The demise of Ananth Kumar, ex MP from Karnataka is a sad moment for the whole Cable TV industry, in particular the cable operators. Way back in 2002 in an all India meet of cable operators held in Bengaluru, Late Ananth Kumar was the chief guest and had declared that the industry should celebrate 21 August as the ‘Cable TV Day’ in the whole nation to promote their unity.

India is making great strides in space. Recently ISRO successfully launched GSAT 29 satellite on its heaviest rocket GSLV Mk III Bahubali which is a milestone in itself. We are inching closer to sending a man to space in our own rocket.

MIB has proposed to amend the Sports Act of 2007 mandating sharing of sports broadcasts of events of national importance with DD for the benefit of the masses. This the government wants to bring back distribution of sporting event of national importance on all platforms including DTH and cable TV.

TRAI has floated a consultation paper on regulating the OTT services. It is surprising that it has not taken up the television services distributed on the OTT platforms.

Watching the news channels these days is very frustrating as the media is totally influenced by political parties and divided. In fact the division is so distinct that most of the channels are unabashedly siding with the ruling party.

Broadcast India show in Mumbai was a great showcase of new technologies, focusing on IoT, AI and IP. We also had the India Satellite Summit in Delhi last month organized by the Broadcast India Forum.